York Dungeon 2016

Ah! riverside settings. There's nothing better than having a prime location on the banks of a river, where you can watch the world go by, feed the ducks on the river and generally enjoy the great British scenery. Well that's true - unless you are the York Dungeon and have just been hit by your second massive flooding in the last 5 years. The last incident closed the dungeon for nearly a year but after the floods of Christmas 2015, the venue has managed to re-open in May 2016, with a number of new scenes and upgrades.

The experience starts with a new show - Fear the Vikings, which takes place in the old monastery, and uses the typical Dungeons humour to warn us 'Saxons' of the dangers of the Vikings. It also serves as a seamless pre-show to the brand new show "Vengeance of the Vikings". We expected a similar show to the old Viking section at the Blackpool Dungeon, abut we were pleasantly surprised by a much larger, more interactive show. Audience participation was obligatory and Snore Shortsword was a great character addition (played by a talented & enthusiastic young actor!)

"Vengeance of the Vikings" then mixed humour and horror in the typical dungeons style, although it probably edged a little more to the horror side in this show (not that we were complaining!) The 3rd show replaced the original "Soothsayer" and prepared us to go into the labyrinth by asking one of us to go look for barrels of gunpowder (we always love it when we get picked!) This led nicely on to the 4th new show, which was "Guy Fawkes" - which has replaced the old Eric Bloodaxe section. This was a projected show similar to the Guy Fawkes show in London and it tells the story of Guy Fawkes' downfall better than the old show, with more humour. The standard of acting, as ever was top notch, absolutely fabulous, and the whole experience flowed a lot smoother and each show seemed to fit perfectly into the next.​After the excitement of all the new shows - the rest of the tour continued with all our favourites of old, including the Courtroom, Execution The Labyrinth and The Golden Fleece. These lower scenes were the ones that had been most flood damaged and we weren't sure whether the "damp" smell and atmosphere was Dungeons magic or genuine following the floods! Each of the final scenes were as lively and exciting as before and all the actors all seemed refreshed and energetic in their roles.

It was great to finally be allowed back inside the York Dungeon and we really hope for their sake that this is the last flooding they experience for a long time. It's nice to see that they have taken the opportunity to add some new scenes during the rebuild and the whole thing has really refreshed the attraction once again.